Collision Course
by librophile
Summary: There are so many different aspects to each character, some of them completely omitted by the script... This is a series of character study one-shots based off the six aired episodes. No slash.
1. Edge Piece

_This is the first of a series of one-shot character studies. Updates will come with the inspiration, which if you're an author you know can be somewhat sporadic, so here goes..._

* * *

**Edge Piece**

Friends were very nearly an impossibility for one Sherlock Holmes – he never really clicked with anyone else, not socially or even in a work-based relationship, where it basically amounted to 'tolerance.' Life, Sherlock had long since determined, was a puzzle, and Sherlock saw himself as the one working it, trying to make all the pieces match – perhaps with Mycroft muddling up the process by adding unnecessary fragments from other puzzles.

It was only with the introduction of John Watson that Sherlock reconsidered his theory. They clicked immediately, as if two pieces of the same puzzle, which puzzled _Sherlock_. No one so ordinary should be able to fit with him.

It took him long hours of consideration, but he came up with a new theory.

Mycroft was a complicated, zig-zag edged piece which drove the puzzle-doer crazy and belonged in the middle of the board, without which at least twenty of the pieces around them (Foreign countries, his mind supplied sarcastically) would fall apart. Anthea was one of those deceptively plain pieces that wouldn't fit anywhere for hours until you tried the most unlikely place. Mrs. Hudson's piece was all rounded knobs that latched onto the surrounding bits so tenaciously it took a well placed screwdriver to pry them apart. Lestrade's was sharp on one edge and rounded on the others, bouncing off where the point should have gone.

John was a genuine puzzle – with links and knobs and deceptively ordinary and solid.

It was this last that brought Sherlock to his conclusion.

Sherlock was an edge piece – sharp edges on the outside, but holding things together. John was the piece that tied him into the rest of the puzzle, his link, his bridge to the rest of humanity.

Sherlock nodded decisively to himself, sat up, and reached for his newest case file.


	2. Forgotten

**Forgotten**

It was usually assumed that Sherlock had some sort of disorder. _Psychopath_ was the most common conjecture (courtesy of the un-courteous), supplemented by _weird_ or _Freak_. As far as his social tendencies were concerned, it was most often assumed to be some form of autism (aka 'He couldn't help it.')

What no one realized was that Sherlock was actually, under the surface, quite ordinary. He had simply trained himself and held himself to higher standards than others out of necessity. Eventually he forgot that he was, after all, another person, and began thinking of himself as too different.

'Sociopath,' indeed.

* * *

It was usually assumed that John was normal. _Doctor_ was the most common name (given his current profession), supplemented by _Captain_ or _flatmate_. As far as his social skills went, he was most often noticed as Sherlock's control factor (aka 'John is at the scene, Sherlock will be under control.')

What no one realized was that under the surface, John was actually quite extraordinary. He simply used these talents where they were least noticed and helped others get on with their own lives. Eventually he forgot he was truly unique and, instead, became a shadow of everyone else.

'Ordinary,' indeed.

* * *

Then, in one normal (extraordinary?) afternoon, all that changed. Sherlock discovered there was someone out there who saw the person behind the genius, and John realized there was still a purpose for him to fill.

Because after all, they weren't all that different. In need of a purpose... Ready to throw themselves into danger for others (however selfish the motive may appear) at a moment's notice... Completely on the border of understanding for everyone else.

It was doubtful that anyone – besides Mycroft, perhaps – ever realized that they saw in their best friend the person they had forgotten how to be.


	3. Accents

**Accents**

Swing. An umbrella tilts quirkily as the only detraction – or odd accent – to its owner, an expression most people miss. It's an unexpected touch that takes people off guard, especially annoying bureaucrats... and it makes a handy weapon when people forget that a man in a suit can still be dangerous. Mycroft Holmes is not to be trifled with, whatever the arena.

* * *

Scarf. One quick twist about a turned up collar, and a touch of vulnerability is masked in plain sight. It's an all-weather quirk that has the additional benefit of annoying his fashion-conscious brother, and it makes a handy make-shift pair of handcuffs, though he would never admit that's partially why he carries it. Sherlock Holmes is a man of hidden (even to him) depths, gradually becoming 'good' as well as 'great. '

* * *

Soft. A sweater simultaneously displays the innate caring nature of the owner and conceals a more dangerous side. No one would expect a man dressed like that to be taken seriously – or take them down. And several unfortunate brigands can testify to that after his first month of life in London. Doctor John H. Watson is indeed a man of many talents, fighting a different war.


	4. Diagnosis

**Diagnosis**

A tall, dark haired man with a blue scarf paced beside the hospital bed, glaring at the nurse when she tried to get him to stop and giving anxious glances toward the patient on the bed as a doctor examined him. When Sherlock's back was turned doctor and patient gave each other a wry, understanding glance that vanished as soon as he turned around.

"Well?" Sherlock demanded impatiently as the doctor rolled his sleeves back down. "What's his diagnosis?"

"Bruises, cracked ribs, possibly some recurring headaches in the future. Just like the first three doctors told you if you'd bothered to listen."

"I don't need pleasantries, I need facts. Why couldn't they have just told me that in the first place?"

"I'll be perfectly all right, Sherlock," the patient replied tiredly, shooting the former an exasperated look.

Sherlock froze for a second as if considering the probabilities of that being a fact, then nodded abruptly. "Right." He whirled. "John?"

"Coming," the doctor chuckled.

John turned to the man in the bed as Sherlock bolted out the door. "Whatever else may be between the two of you, obviously worry is reciprocated," he commented.

Mycroft Holmes chuckled slightly in acknowledgement, and John turned away and hurried after his friend.


	5. Moral

**Moral**

John didn't talk about his morals so much as he lived them. No drugs (Sherlock huffed abut that one for a while, but gave in to common sense), no alchohol (Harry's influence), and he remained celibate.

That last was Harry's influence too, in an indirect way. After finding out his own sister had compromised her gender, John decided that he would never get into a situation where it could possibly happen. That particular trait of his scared off any dates who were only out for that rather than a life partner.

Being assumed to be Sherlock's date rankled. Having Sherlock imply if he were to look up immoral photos on the internet he would do so on John's laptop (to avoid Mycroft; there was a tracer in Sherlock's) hurt. Knowing he was avoiding anything like what Sherlock warned two officers their conduct could be translated as made John relax slightly. Sherlock obviously had high morals himself, given his uncomfortable twitch during the Woman case when she had made her first risqué appearance.

John liked to think his own standards, overlooked though they likely were by his socially impaired flatmate ("A date?" "A date. You know, when two people who like each other go out and have fun together?"), had been one of the factors that brought them together in the first place. Perhaps that was the 'something different' each had detected in the other: a friendship, morality, and caring that was all but lost to the past.


	6. Patch Job

**Patch Job**

Mycroft and Sherlock had the oddest relationship John had ever seen, his and Harry's included – they cared about each other, but preferred to hide it behind scathing remarks, continual rebuffing, and minimal and impersonal contact. John was no detective, but he knew one thing.

Somehow, the well-to-do parents of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes had completely missed something important. They provided education, connections, means that would see even the most careless spender through their thirties.

What they missed was love.

John was completely unaware of how needed he was in the Holmes brothers' lives. The day he appeared, something clicked; Mycroft Holmes, controller of a good portion of the British government but close to none of his employ, spent an extra unplanned sixty seconds explaining John's tremor, which promptly disappeared. Sherlock Holmes, self-diagnosed sociopath with the ability to gain mortal enemies in those same sixty seconds, took the time to trick John's limp into submission. It also vanished.

John, on the other hand, was unknowing of exactly how far he had repaid the favor. He kept Sherlock's formerly unraveling connection with humanity intact, and even helped strengthen it; he provided a person to whom Mycroft could express a few less-professional, but entirely human thoughts (though why he would tell John that Sherlock had wanted to be a pirate when they were children was beyond him). He also provided a bridge for the brothers' fraying relationship.

Unknown to him, if it hadn't been for his intervention, Reichenbach – the willing sacrifice that would have been impossible a year before; the trick made possible by cooperation; the trust, however twisted by Holmsian logic; the chance for success – would have never happened.


	7. Respect

**Respect**

It isn't until Anderson and Donovan are standing there yet again, watching Sherlock dash around their crime scene as if he owns it (which probably isn't too far from the truth), that John decides to speak.

"You do realize he respects you?" It's in a faintly amused tone.

Sally snorts, and Anderson just rolls his eyes. "Whatever," Sally scoffs. "Given the amount of insults he dishes out..."

"You match him word for word and then some," John informs her bluntly. "But have you ever seen him pay specific attention to anyone else on your team?"

They both blink. They've never thought of it that way before.

"Face it," John says. "Sherlock trusts you."

Neither of them knows what to say.


	8. Three Way Tie

_Surprise! I found this one in one of my files and realized I hadn't posted it yet, so you get two updates in two days. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Three Way Tie**

At first, it had been a two-way link and a limp, disconnected thread. Sherlock and Mycroft were, after all, brothers, even if their relationship wasn't that close, and John had been alone ever since his only confidant, his sister, had declared her sexual orientation. Things had never been easy around home again.

Then it was a two-way link and two threads of various thicknesses, binding the three into a limp triangle. Sherlock had become inexplicably attached to the doctor within a very short time, and Mycroft found himself actually interested in the man himself when he high-handedly arranged a meeting. John, on the other hand, was unusually reluctant to consider a man his enemy and considered Sherlock a compatriot and Mycroft relief forces from the moment their relation was disclosed. (And hadn't _that_ been a shock for Mycroft – he was used to Sherlock denying all relation, even going so far as to on one occasion declare that he had never met Mycroft before.)

Pretty soon – far sooner than anyone could have expected – it became a steel bar (Sherlock and John), a shoelace (John and Mycroft), and a loosely secured rope (the Holmeses).

The only problem is, far too many things can be done with a rope. And not all of them pleasant, as Sherlock would be far too eager to inform you.

When Sherlock was forced to jump, those bonds proved their strength.

The Holmes brothers' link, despite being severely frayed from the breach of trust which had gone much too far, knotted at the ends and refused to budge. Sherlock's bond with John melted slightly – but after all, metal hardens again, and John had no intention of starting a new project with the materials.

John and Mycroft's tried to sever, mostly on John's part, but like a bow which has been jerked too swiftly the wrong way it knotted tightly and refused to budge. The relation there remained grudging, but it soon became much like Mycroft's bond with Sherlock had initially been – distant, but tightly secured, on his end at least.

With Sherlock's return, it would be the final test.


	9. Concilation

**Conciliation**

It was a matter of compromise.

John learned to tolerate late night explosions, two A.M. violin serenades, and strange conversation topics. Sherlock learned to moderate his abruptness and avoid riling up his new flatmate's considerable temper. Both learned how to detect a sound/audio/anything-else-spyworthy device planted in their apartment with their eyes shut, and sometimes without even entering the room.

Mycroft learned that ex-army surgeons are not to be crossed when it comes to their friends and that his brother could be shockingly loyal for a self-proclaimed sociopath.

John forwent normalcy. Sherlock gave up his solitude.

Mycroft surrendered his (indoor) surveillance, but he thought it well worth it.

No camera could guard Sherlock as effectively as the only man who had ever gained the respect of both Holmes brothers in less than forty-eight hours.


	10. Warning

**Warning**

Sherlock wasn't making questionable sallies into their personal lives, no matter how it sounded. The flat accusation in his tone was nearly habitual, not conscious really, but the intent behind it was completely different.

_This is how it looks. See how easily your wife could take it wrong, Anderson? See how easily you could lose your reputation, Sally?_

John – perceptive even then – could see there was something he wasn't catching in Sherlock's words. Later he might have figured it out; Sherlock didn't really know, as John never bothered mentioning it.

Sherlock wasn't the only one who could keep others' secrets.


	11. Steady

**Steady**

"_Wasted._"

That was the term he had overheard by accident while recuperating in that army base – no condolences, no falsely soothing words (which he later received in spades), just the flat out truth.

_Wasted_.

Wasted skills, talents, all ruined by one bullet that didn't have the consideration to miss. Leaving him unfit for anything. Groundless. Out of the war.

He took those words with him back to London. The tremor in his hand was blamed on stress – he didn't bother thinking it through. He had enough problems with the limp.

Then Mycroft Holmes pulled him off the street, and in a few well-said sentences set it straight. "She's got it the wrong way around. You're under stress right now and your hand is perfectly steady..."

The catalyst, however, was his quiet, almost personal comment that followed soon after. Mycroft likely never knew just what he had set in motion with his words: "You're not haunted by the war, Doctor Watson. You miss it.

"_Welcome back_."


	12. Tolerate

**Tolerate**

From the expression on his face one would have thought someone had dropped the entirety of 221B squarely on his head. Suddenly realizing the hard wood pressing into his legs is a chair, he sat down. Abruptly.

"When did this happen?" he asked faintly.

"Three hours ago at most."

He stared glassy-eyed at the screen. Two figures, one taller and dark-haired with a blue scarf, one shorter and blonde-haired with a cane, shake hands and enter the house.

"Will that be all sir?"

"Yes... Thank you."

And that's the way it would have happened – if Mycroft Holmes bothered showing emotions.


	13. Consideration

_This piece is a 'what-if' 100-word drabble placed during "A Study in Pink.__"_ Enjoy!

* * *

**Consideration**

As much as Sherlock resented Mycroft's daily surveillance of his life and associates, he couldn't help but admit (privately) that at times it could be useful. Usually it was a nuisance, but – still.

As Sherlock hurtled down the stairs shouting "Pink!" he spared a fleeting thought to wonder if he should ask John along...

Then decided against it.

Mycroft always wanted to speak to his associates, and taking John with him would only delay the inevitable. Besides, with his limp it would be far kinder to let John take advantage of one of Mycroft's ominous limousines.

Sherlock left John behind.


	14. Lifeline

**Lifeline**

John has gone missing, and Sherlock is pacing desperately in front of the rain-soaked window, waiting for word of his friend.

Mycroft Holmes and his brother never got along. Even during that first introduction (kidnapping, really, but semantics) Lestrade could see the tension in Mycroft's shoulders when he mentioned his little brother, even though the connection was unknown at the time.

Which is why Lestrade is shocked when Sherlock, rather than giving his phone an irritated glance when it chimes with his brother's ringtone, instead pounces on it as though he is drowning and Mycroft's call is his only lifeline.


	15. Initiate

_This piece is from Mike Stamford's point of view in "A Study in Pink."_

* * *

**Initiate**

I recognized him when he passed me in the park – thinner than he used to be, walking with a cane, but still someone I recognized. I suggested a flatmate to him as a passing thought and was startled to hear him use the same wording as Sherlock Holmes had before.

After that all it was is a matter of introducing the two. After all, John was a man of hidden strengths, Sherlock was a man who needed someone like that to keep him sane.

Molly briefly met my eyes as she left, smiling wryly. _We'll see whether he stays_.

He did.


	16. Rescue

**Rescue**

He's standing there talking with Lestrade, trying to figure out just what happened here, when there's a shout from his left. He jerks his head around just in time to see Sherlock come hurtling at him, and gives a strangled yelp as he's caught in a half tackle that sends them both crashing to the ground, just as a bullet zings through the space where he was standing mere moments before.

Sherlock is up and running after the shooter before he can string two words together.

Afterward he watches as Sherlock rattles off his deductions, somehow not irritated anymore.

"Anderson? You feeling all right?" Lestrade asks.

Anderson snaps to attention and nods. "I'm fine."

He watches as John and Sherlock leave the scene without a backward glance.


	17. Ask

**Ask**

It wasn't just anyone who could put up with the (sometimes intentionally) abrasive personality of a certain Mister Sherlock Holmes. He'd long since decided that no one could, outside the increasingly rare non-confrontational exchange with his brother, Mycroft. He didn't count, though – he was a Holmes too, after all.

Mycroft had put a freeze on his (admittedly excessive) finances, though, which meant that somehow he would have to find someone who could (would, might possibly survive while managing to) share an apartment with Sherlock.

Impossible.

Sherlock wasn't in the best of moods when he went to Barts the next day – he was in an even worse mood when he found out his first few tries had been scared off by Big Brother. (_So, what, you needed something to keep you from getting bored so you decided to force me into finding a flatmate and then scare them off before it had a chance of working? Really, Mycroft..._) Not that Mycroft was in the best of moods, either, but he didn't care about trivialities like that.

The end result, however, was that he ended up explaining (all right, complaining about) his current difficulties to one Mike Stamford.

Apparently that was all it took.

Twenty-four hours later, Sherlock Holmes shook the hand of one John Watson on the front step of 221B, Baker Street.


End file.
